St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell sat down with fired Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo Friday, mostly to talk about what happened to end his three-year tenure in St. Louis, but also about Spagnuolo's future.

Spags Speaks: Taking Break

"The phone has been ringing. There has been contact (from several teams)," Steve Spagnuolo said. (L.G. Patterson/AP)

Les Bowen

Posted:
Sunday, January 8, 2012, 8:31 AM

St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell sat down with fired Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo Friday, mostly to talk about what happened to end his three-year tenure in St. Louis, but also about Spagnuolo's future.

Spagnuolo told Burwell there had been exploratory conversations with NFL teams, but that no one has offered him a job. He told Burwell he was leaving Saturday for a four-day break with his wife, Maria, who is from Philadelphia, to think things over and prepare to move forward.

He did not confirm or deny he had been in contact with the Eagles, who are evaluating the fate of defensive coordinator Juan Castillo. Spagnuolo was an Eagles defensive assistant from 1999-2006.

"In all honesty, I don't know," he said. "I was let go on Monday, and today's Friday and I am very blessed in this way. The phone has been ringing. There has been contact (from several teams), but I have asked that everyone respect the fact that I need some time to figure out what I want to do next, and so far, everyone has."

Asked how much time he needs to figure out what he wants to do next, Spagnuolo said: "I don't know. I'm not sure."

Spagnuolo mentioned that he might take a year off and spend it with Maria. She laughed off that notion.

"I know Steve, and I told him no way," she said, laughing. "There's no way he will be able to sit around for a year doing nothing. … He loves coaching way too much to sit around idly for a year."

"There are two extremes for what I'd ultimately like to do, and a lot of possibilities in between," he said. "The extremes are 1) sitting out a year, or 2) getting another head coaching job. One is realistic, the other probably isn't very realistic. No one has asked me to be a head coach yet and I'm not saying that is going to happen. But everything in between — like being a coordinator again, or maybe a position coach — yeah, those are both realistic possibilities. Would I think about a college job? No. I love this league too much."

So, if the Eagles are going to continue their defensive reordering, which began with the Saturday dismissal of secondary coach Johnny Lynn, it would seem they will not be able to hire Spagnuolo at least until mid- to late week.

It'll be interesting to see if the Giants have a defensive coordinator opening by then, should they lose today to Atlanta. Spagnuolo was their defensive coordinator four years ago, when they beat the unbeaten Patriots in the Super Bowl.

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